Meredith Vieira & Richard Cohen

Meredith Vieira & Richard Cohen

Meredith Vieira & Richard Cohen

A journalist without integrity and truthfulness is, well, not really a journalist. Thank goodness Meredith Vieira oozes both. As the co-host of the Today show, she’s easily one of America’s most recognizable and trustworthy news personalities. As a wife and mother, she brings the same candor and courage she’s known for on television to her personal life. Earlier this year, she revealed that she has suffered from bouts of anxiety. “I think sometimes the magnitude of life just sort of seeps into my brain,” she explained. Her frankness is something she shares with her hubby, fellow journalist Richard Cohen, who detailed the ups and downs of living with multiple sclerosis since the age of 25 in his 2004 book, Blindsided: Lifting a Life Above Illness: A Reluctant Memoir. No, their lives aren’t perfect, but beauty lies in the laugh lines.

Cue Laughter: Cohen may suffer from a chronic illness, but that doesn’t stop Vieira from poking fun at him. She’s said, of facing off across the pool table: “Now, the man is legally blind, and he has trouble walking. He can’t even see which one is the cue ball, which is the eight ball. And he beats me every time!”

This article was originally published at . Reprinted with permission from the author.